- The ASEAN-Korea Centre, the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, and the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business agree to strengthen the ASEAN-Korea entrepreneurs network -- The MOU signed on the occasion of the Business Forum to welcome Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (5 June, Lotte Hotel, Seoul) -

Seoul, Korea – The ASEAN-Korea Centre (Secretary General Lee Hyuk) signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network (AMEN)’ with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC) of the Philippines and the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises (K-Biz) on 5 June 2018 in Seoul. The AMEN was established in 2017, the year when the Philippines served as the ASEAN chair, to support capacity building of ASEAN Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through mentoring from the business and academic experts.

The signing ceremony was held on the occasion of the Welcoming Luncheon and the Business Forum organized for the visiting Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. It was attended by Lee Hyuk, Secretary General of the ASEAN-Korea Centre; Park Sung-taek, Chairman of K-Biz; Kim Jun-dong, Executive Vice Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) from the Korean side, and President Duterte; Carlos Dominguez III, Secretary of Finance; Ramon Lopez, Secretary of Trade and Industry; and Raul S. Hernandez, the Philippine Ambassador to Korea from the Philippine side.

Lee Hyuk, Secretary General of the ASEAN-Korea Centre, said, “It is a key priority of ASEAN to promote and develop the MSMEs, which account for 99% of total businesses in the region, on its path towards achieving the integrated ASEAN Economic Community by 2025. Considering that cooperation among ASEAN and Korean MSMEs is vital to sustainable economic growth of ASEAN, close collaboration with dialogue partners including Korea in this field will lead to shared prosperity. Through this MOU, the ASEAN-Korea Centre will strive to enhance knowledge and expertise sharing between Korean business practitioners and ASEAN MSMEs. It will also strengthen partnership with key stakeholders like ABAC and K-Biz to further expand cooperative networks among MSMEs in ASEAN and Korea.”

Based on the MOU, the ASEAN-Korea Centre, ABAC, and K-Biz will facilitate the connection between Korean mentors and AMEN mentees in the strategic areas of digital economy; trade and industry; and agripreneurship. In the long-term, they will strengthen partnership by developing more concrete programs such as Mentoring the Mentors; Integration of “3Ms,” namely Mentoring, Market, Money; Women in Business; Young Entrepreneurs; and other areas that the three organizations may wish to jointly cover.